The present invention related to information delivery systems. Particularly, the invention relates to interactive audio delivery systems.
Consumers receive information by various media, including print, television, internet, and radio. The information provided to the consumer is generally pre-arranged and pre-selected, as is the case with radio, print, and television content.
The internet has facilitated services that deliver information with embedded hyperlinks, which allow a user to navigate to other information. Some internet based services allow a user to select categories for which content is provided on a personalized web page. However, the arrangement and production of the content remains pre-determined.
Certain users wish to control the selection and arrangement of content. In addition, certain users find that access to an internet browser is not always readily available. Thus, there is a need for a system and method that provide users with a more convenient and readily available information delivery and extraction mechanism.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided a system for the delivery of navigable audio programs. The audio programs include audio content and corresponding control data. The system provides the audio content to the user in accordance with control data. The system allows users to control both the audio content selection and the control data employed to deliver the content. The user can navigate through the time progression of a program or between various layers of the program.
The present invention further includes a navigable audio replay system that includes an audio application database, the audio application database storing control data for controlling the replay of audio segments in an audio program. The system also includes an audio content database, which stores audio segments content. An application replay module extracts audio application data from the audio application database. The application replay module transmits control signals to an audio replay module. The control signals are generated in accordance with audio application data. The control signals facilitate the replaying of audio segments stored in the audio content database.
The system also includes an audio replay module. The audio replay module receives control signals from the application replay module and responds to control signals from the application replay module by facilitating the transmission of at least one audio segment to a user replay device. Finally the system includes a telephony interface, which facilitates the communication between the audio replay module and the user replay device. The telephony interface further facilitates the communication between the application replay module and the user replay module.
The present invention provides for logical navigation within audio content. The method for facilitating the logical navigation includes processing audio content to associate at least one navigation tag with the audio content, the navigation tag including data relating to a logical portion of the audio content. The method then facilitates the delivery of the audio content to a user replay device. A navigation command is received from the user replay device. The method finally modifies the replaying of the audio content in response to the navigation command received from the user replay device. The modifying includes facilitating the delivery of audio data associated with the navigation tag of the audio content.
The present invention provides an audio segment and at least one associated audio segment replayed in parallel with a portion of the first audio segment. The method includes retrieving an audio application, the audio application including data relating to audio segments associated with an audio program. The method then replays an audio program by facilitating the replay of a first audio segment to a user replay device, the first audio segment selected in accordance with the audio application data. The method finally makes available to the user replay device a second audio segment, the second audio segment selected in accordance with the audio application data. The second audio segment is delivered to the user replay device during the replay of the first audio segment in response to a user control signal.